Physicists from Umeå University and Humboldt University in Berlin have solved a mystery that has puzzled scientists for half a century. They show with the help of powerful microscopes that the distance between graphite oxide ...

(Phys.org) —As the demand for rechargeable lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries has grown, the battery industry has found itself facing a problem of supply-and-demand. Lithium is not an abundant element, and most lithium deposits ...

Using graphite pencils to draw on regular paper, researchers can make some very inexpensive piezoresistive (PZR) sensors. Due to the piezoresistive effect, a sensor's resistance changes under an applied strain, allowing it ...

Australian industries have reached a turning point. With old industries on the way out, the Australian manufacturing sector's biggest challenge is to move from a low-cost mass production model to one that exploits niche markets ...

Although oxygen is required to sustain life, oxygen sucks the life out of fusion by radiating away too much power from the high-temperature plasma. Accordingly, great efforts are expended to reduce the oxygen found in fusion ...

Scientists from the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), in collaboration with researchers in Belgium and Italy, have published research that could help provide a primary standard for dose measurements of carbon ion beam therapy ...

Hydrogen is deceptively simple. It has only a single electron per atom, but it powers the sun and forms the majority of the observed universe. As such, it is naturally exposed to the entire range of pressures and temperatures ...

Graphite

The mineral graphite /ˈɡræfaɪt/ is one of the allotropes of carbon. It was named by Abraham Gottlob Werner in 1789 from the Ancient Greek γράφω (graphō), "to draw/write", for its use in pencils, where it is commonly called lead (not to be confused with the metallic element lead). Unlike diamond (another carbon allotrope), graphite is an electrical conductor, a semimetal. It is, consequently, useful in such applications as arc lamp electrodes. Graphite is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Therefore, it is used in thermochemistry as the standard state for defining the heat of formation of carbon compounds. Graphite may be considered the highest grade of coal, just above anthracite and alternatively called meta-anthracite, although it is not normally used as fuel because it is difficult to ignite.

There are three principal types of natural graphite, each occurring in different types of ore deposit:

Highly ordered pyrolytic graphite or highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) refers to graphite with an angular spread between the graphite sheets of less than 1°. This highest-quality synthetic form is used in scientific research. The name "graphite fiber" is also sometimes used to refer to carbon fiber or carbon fiber-reinforced polymer.